Tag: Melvin Guillard

("Listen, Gray, if you promise to stay away from my face, I think I can hook you up with a role in my next project. We’re doing a movie adaptation of ‘Big Buck Hunter.’ Should be hot." Photo courtesy of this set on CombatLifestyle.)

Spoiler alert: UFC Fight Night 19 is being broadcast on tape-delay in some parts of the country, so check your local listings before continuing if you want to keep your viewing experience pure. Now then, it’s time to see if weed-strength can overcome cocaine-quickness, and how Roger Huerta’s farewell performance will be received by the toughest critics of all — Gray Maynard’s fists. Live results await you after the jump; refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and let us know how you’re feelin’ in the comments section.

Roger Huerta may have an ill-advised acting career to turn to after tomorrow night’s fight against Gray Maynard, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t training hard for his last stand in the Octagon. In the video profile above, Huerta implies that his previous loss to Kenny Florian at UFC 87 was the result of moving away from his dependable coaching duo of Dave Menne and Justin Hagen. He certainly seems focused — though you have to wonder if Huerta should be drilling nothing but his smother-defense at this point.

“Finally I’m fighting someone that’s not afraid to stand up with me,” Diaz said. “Melvin’s a tough guy and I know that he’ll want to stand and trade with me. I don’t think the fans want to see two guys holding each other.”

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. We just received the above poster image in our inbox, in which Nate Diaz (who’s coming off back-to-back losses to Clay Guida and Joe Stevenson) and Melvin Guillard (cokehead) appear to be headlining the next UFC Fight Night card over top lightweight contender Gray Maynard and Roger Huerta, who used to be the UFC’s Great Brown Hope until he started talking out of turn. Of course, most fans are just going to be happy to see two great lightweight matchups on free TV, not realizing the passive aggressive jab of disrespect that’s going on here. (Honestly, I can’t wait to hear Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg’s spin on why Diaz vs. Guillard is main-event-worthy.) But hey, good luck to Nate — when was the last time a fighter was given a headlining slot and a "win or go home" match on the same night?

— BJ Penn’s head trainer Rudy Valentino took offense to Dana White’s accusations that BJ Penn isn’t taking training seriously, as shown on the debut episode of UFC Primetime. "He makes it out to be that [BJ] is on vacation, not training and not taking [the fight] seriously. This fight is the most serious fight of all time. We’re not playing around…[Dana] will pull out drama in anything he does. He’s not a drama queen, he’s a drama king. [Dana] didn’t understand what we have to do….because he’s not a fighter. We don’t want [BJ] burning out or peaking at the wrong time."

We previously mentioned that UFC lightweight Melvin Guillard had to pull out of his UFC 90 bout with Spencer Fisher for undisclosed reasons. Well, now those reasons are disclosed — and it ain’t lookin’ good. Sherdog is reporting that the Young Assassin is in custody at the Harris County jail in Houston, due to an August 13th arrest for violating probation on a 2007 drug charge. Guillard will be released to a drug treatment facility “as soon as space becomes available per the terms of his recently amended probation.” And it probably won’t be one of those cushy drug treatment facilities that lets patients take days off to go fight in Chicago, so there you have it.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Guillard has had drug/legal trouble since his UFC career began in 2005. The New Orleans native was suspended for eight months after testing positive for cocaine following a submission loss to Joe Stevenson at UFC Fight Night 9 in April 2007. (Guillard admitted using the drug six days before the fight, thinking it would be out of his system within 72 hours.) Four months later, he was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, but got off with a fine and two years probation — which he has now violated.

If you’ve been keeping score, that’s three strikes. Unfortunately, Guillard’s not nearly valuable enough to the UFC for them to keep giving him chances; we’d expect a semi-official announcement of his dismissal sometime this week. Guillard is still an exciting-enough fighter to continue to get work in smaller shows, but we’re more concerned about his health and well-being at this point. Let’s hope his latest incident compels him to clean up for good…

— Patrick Cote is tired of the American media disrespecting him by discussing who Anderson Silva should face after the Spider inevitably kicks the crap out of the Canadian challenger at UFC 90. You might not believe this, but Cote said he’s “ready to shock the world.” Wow…could we have been wrong about this fight all along?

— Melvin Guillard has been forced to drop out of his UFC 90 bout with Spencer Fisher for undisclosed reasons. Replacing him will be Shannon Gugerty (11-2), the City Boxing product who made his UFC debut at “Silva vs. Irvin” in July with a first-round choke-out of Dale Hartt.

— The UFC may have found its next light-heavyweight gatekeeper, reportedly signing Italian UWC/Cage Rage vet Ivan Serati (10-2) to a multi-fight deal; he’s expected to make his first Octagon appearance before the end of the year. Serati has won his last four matches, and started his career with five straight victories by stoppage (all in under a minute) before losing to Vitor Belfort via TKO at a Cage Rage event in April ’07.

MMA Weekly has confirmed that UFC 90 (October 25th, Chicago) will feature a lightweight bout between Spencer Fisher and Melvin Guillard. Fisher (21-4, 6-3 UFC) is coming off a decision win against Jeremy Stephens at the TUF 7 finale in June, while Guillard (21-7-2, 4-3 UFC) is coming off a 36-second KO of Dennis Siver, which won him the “Knockout of the Night” bonus at last month’s UFC 86. Seems like a decent matchup, though Fisher’s coach Pat Miletich isn’t so pleased: “Spencer has no reason to fight that guy,” Miletich told MMA Weekly. “I don’t think Melvin’s earned the right to fight him yet. I think Spencer should be fighting somebody where he’s got something to gain.”

Also in the lightweight division at UFC 90, Sherdog reports that Hermes Franca (who has dropped his last two fights to Sean Sherk and Frank Edgar) will be facing Gleison Tibau (who has dropped his last two fights to Tyson Griffin and Joe Stevenson). It goes without saying that the loser of this match could find himself bounced out of the UFC. Tibau currently trains at American Top Team, and Hermes Franca — a former ATT member — considers him a friend.

MMA Weekly also lists a third high-profile lightweight bout — between Sean Sherk and Tyson Griffin — on its UFC 90 Rumors page. The event will feature the middleweight title fight between Anderson Silva and Patrick Cote, as well as a potential #1 welterweight contender match between Thiago Alves and Diego Sanchez.